Past Undergraduates

Tamsin Smith (Biology and Society ’17, Infectious Disease Biology minor). She joined the Harrington Lab in the summer of 2016 to study the reproductive patterns and geographical spread of the Aedes albopictus mosquito. She is interested in the biomedical causes and societal impacts of mosquito-vectored diseases. Tamsin is now pursuing her MPH degree.

Grace Winhoven (Entomology ’17). She is majoring in entomology and minoring in global health. She joined the Harrington lab January 2015. Grace is currently employed at the Darke County, Ohio Health Department where she works on a variety of health problems including mosquito monitoring and control.

Viraj Khetani (Biological Sciences with a concentration in Insect Biology ’17, Fine Arts minor). She joined the Harrington lab in the Fall of 2015. Viraj is now in medical school.

Jae Baek (Biological Engineering ’17). She joined the Harrington Lab in the Summer of 2014 and worked on mosquito acoustics combining her engineer and mosquito interests. She plans to pursue an MD/PhD in zoonotic diseases.

Brittany Hamlin (Biology and Society / Global Health minor ’15). Brittany began working in the Harrington lab in summer 2013 because of her interest in vector borne diseases, specifically in malaria and yellow fever. Brittany completed an honor’s thesis entitled “The Socioeconomic Impact of Malaria Control and Eradication in Venezuela.” She is now working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and applying to graduate schools.

Olivia Winokur (interdisciplinary studies focusing on environmental effects on health ’15). Olivia joined the lab in the summer of 2014 She is currently applying to graduate school to study disease ecology or a related field.

Seth Moore. (Biology ’15) Seth joined the lab in summer 2014. Seth conducted field collections during the summer and mosquito identification. Seth is planning to attend medical school after a gap year.

Daniela Schmulevich (Biology and Society major, Honors ’13) Bioterror Threats Communicated: the Exacerbation of Fear by the Media and its Subsequent Effects. Dani is currently earning her MS degree in Communication Managment at USC.

Arthie Jeyakumar (Biology and Society/Asian Studies’12): Arthie became interested in malaria after taking Professor Harrington’s course “Plagues and People”. Arthie worked in the lab in 2009-2012. She now attends Albert Einstein Medical School.

Becky Johnson (Entomology/Biology ’12, Entomology Honors): Becky joined the lab in the spring of 2009 as a Hunter Rawlins Cornell Presidential Research Scholar. She conducted her research on mosquito feeding patterns and EEE virus vectors in Maine and NY. Becky is pursuing her PhD at Penn State University.

Chris Donovan (Entomology/Biology ’12): Chris worked in the lab in 2010 and 2011. Chris provided support for various projects in the lab and conducted mosquito collections in the summer. Chris is attending medical school at Case Western Reserve.

Josh Uhr (Biology ’12). Josh worked in the Harrington lab in 2011-12. He worked on mosquito learning and supported various other projects. Josh is attending Mt. Sinai Medical School.

Melissa Orteza (Biology and Society ’11, Honors, Minor in Global Health): Melissa became very interested in the biology of mosquitoes and vector-borne diseases after contracting dengue not long ago in Manila, Philippines where she is from. Melissa joined the lab in Spring of 2009 after hearing Dr. Harrington give a lecture about malaria in the Global Health class. Melissa is now an intern at ARK (Advancement for Rural Kids) in New York City and travels to the Philippines regularly as part of her work.

Laura Seeholzer (Entomology/Biology ’10, Biology Honors): Sperm usage patterns of the dengue vector mosquito, Ae. aegypti. Entomology Honors: Synergistic effects of carbon dioxide and human skin volatiles in mosquito attraction: and its utility towards the development of a novel mosquito control strategy. Laura is currently a graduate student at Rockefeller University and continues to play ultimate frisbee.

Gaurvika Lal Nayyar (Human Ecology ’10, Honors): Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of residents and doctors during an outbreak of Chikungunya in India. Gaurvika accepted a position at NIH/Fogerty working on drug resistant malaria after graduation where she published some of her work in The Lancet. She is currently pursuing her MPH degree.

Lizzy Glennon (Biology ’10, Concentration in Microbiology): Lizzy joined the Harrington lab in Fall 2008. She became interested in the relationship between parasites and their vectors after taking a course in Parasitology. Lizzy is now working on her PHD in Medical Entomology at the University of California Davis.

Cristina Munk (Entomology ’09): Host Orientation and Location Distances for the Malaria Vector, Anopheles gambiae, in Tanzania. Cristina earned a Masters in Public Health from Johns’ Hopkins University in 2012. She is currently an EEID fellow working in Ethiopia. Visit Christina’s blog.

Vanessa Scialabba (Biology ’09): Larval development, survival and pupal survival of a transgenic RIDL dengue vector strain compared to a wild-type Mexico strain of Aedes aegypti . Vanessa worked in industry after graduation. She is now pursuing a PhD.

Peter Hashim (History ’08): Potential climate change effects on competition between two mosquito vectors, Aedes albopictus and Culex p. pipiens, in New York State. Peter is in medical school

Nishant Soni (Biology and Society ’07): Temperature dependent development of Ae. aegypti under fluctuating temperatures. Nishant is in medical school.

Beth Meccariello (Biology ’06, Howard Hughes Student): Effect of climate change on range expansion of the Asian Tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, in the United States. She worked for the CDC after graduation. Beth is currently pursing her DVM/PhD at Cornell.

Roxanna Garcia (Animal Science ’06): Population genetics of Oc. j. japonicus, an invasive mosquito vector in North America. Roxy earned her medical degree and an MS from UC Berkeley/San Francisco in 2012. She is currently completing a residency in neurosurgery.

Benjamin Briggs (Biology ’04): DYO program in Thailand, Summer 2003.Research on arthropod vectors of Scrub Typhus, Malaria and Dengue. Ben is earning his MD/PhD (with ticks!) at the University of Buffalo.

Sharon Weibman (Entomology ’02): Honors Thesis title: Resting ecology of putative vectors of West Nile virus in Dutchess County, New York. Completed December 2002. Sharon is a Podiatrist in New York.